Abstract : The perceptions of health and illness among the lay Bahraini women of childbearing age were examined. The differences in perceptions of two groups, at-home and at-hospital births, were explored. A combination of probability sampling (simple random sample) and nonprobability sampling (purposive sample) procedures were used to select 24 women who met the preset criteria for inclusion in the study. Intensive, face-to-face interviews using an interview guide were conducted by the investigator. The interviews were tape recorded, tran-scribed verbatim, and translated from Arabic to English for the purpose of analysis. The women used four categories of practices (beneficial, harmless, harmful, and questionable) to maintain and restore the mother and infant's health following birth. Also, Bahraini women perceive health as a total body-mind relationship within a social context. Many of the women's health-illness practices are influenced by the Arabic medicine originating from the Galenic-Islamic views. No differences were found between the at home and at-hospital birth groups except in the at-home birth group's use of herbal medicine. Recommendations include the development of an assessment tool nurses might use for early identification of women's health-illness percep-tions, and in order to plan and implement interventions geared to the needs of individual women, taking into consideration their beliefs and values abouth health and illness.